Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Gas-fired residential and commercial water heaters are generally formed to include a vertical cylindrical water storage tank with a gas burner disposed in a combustion chamber below the tank. The burner is supplied with a fuel gas through a gas supply line and combustion air through one or more air inlet openings providing communication between ambient air and the interior of the combustion chamber.
Water heaters of this general type are extremely safe in operation. However, when gasoline or other flammable liquids are stored or used improperly in proximity to the water heater, there may exist a possibility of flammable vapors becoming entrained in the air intake of the water heater. It is accordingly possible for the resulting flame to propagate out of the combustion chamber into the ambient environment around the water heater as a result of following the intake path of the flammable vapor. Under such conditions, a fire and/or explosion may occur. The present invention relates to a gas-fired water heater design where the danger of such a fire or explosion referred to above is greatly reduced or completely eliminated.
A water heater having a sealed combustion chamber with a fuel burner mounted therein. A flame arrestor is mounted in the bottom wall of the combustion chamber. The arrestor is comprised of continuous spiral wound layers of a flat material and a corrugated material sandwiched between layers of the flat material. The honeycomb construction provides a plurality of air passage cells, which extend from one surface of the arrestor to the opposite surface of the arrestor. The height of the arrestor is relatively long compared to the cross-sectional areas of the air passage cells. The arrestor functions to allow combustion air to flow from the atmosphere into the combustion chamber. The arrestor is further adapted to prevent flashback back through the arrestor to thereby prevent ignition of flammable liquids, which may have become spilled in the area in which the water heater is installed. The arrestor is of sufficient mass so as to function as a heat sink to thereby prevent the heat in the combustion chamber from passing through the arrestor by conduction to a temperature degree sufficient to cause ignition of a flammable liquid located exteriorly of the combustion chamber.